Ph.D. in English, Composition and TESOL

The program is designed to meet the needs of English and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) instructors at two-year and four-year colleges and universities. The core courses provide a foundation for students to specialize in composition or TESOL or both. This foundation is flexible enough to meet students’ individual needs and those of the academic marketplace.

The core curriculum connects theory with practice and is designed to increase the professional qualifications and teaching effectiveness of instructors in teaching positions. The Composition and TESOL Program began in 1975 and was revised in 1986 and again in 2000.

The Composition and TESOL Program recognizes the changing structure of education and the interdisciplinary nature of research into the nature and transmission of literacy. It provides central courses in research methods, technology and literacy, and language theory and offers options for a 9-credit specialization in Composition or TESOL. Doctoral students may begin the program in the summer or fall and must start with ENGTL 800 and ENGL 808. Students have 15 elective hours in the program, with courses offered in rhetoric, reading theory, and literacy theory. In addition, students may take courses from other programs, or they may opt to take the second specialization in the CT Program.

The program emphasizes the flexible yet intensive preparation of instructors of literacy. To achieve this flexibility, the program permits variation in the fields of concentration. All students study a common body of knowledge in central courses and focus their research on the uses of interdisciplinary knowledge for the transmission of literacy in the teaching of English. A unique feature is that students can select an academic year or a summers-only program option.

Program Requirements

Core Courses (9 cr.)

ENGL 800

Introduction to Research

3 cr.

ENGL 808

Technology and Literacy

3 cr.

ENGL 803

Language and Cognition

3 cr.

or

ENGL 805

Language and Social Context

3 cr.

Specialization (9 cr.)

Composition Specialization

ENGL 833

Theories of Composition

3 cr.

ENGL 830

Teaching Writing

3 cr.

ENGL 831

Rhetorical Traditions

3 cr.

or

TESOL Specialization

ENGL 823

Second Language Teaching

3 cr.

ENGL 824

Second Language Acquisition

3 cr.

ENGL 825

Second Language Literacy

3 cr.

Research (3 cr.)

ENGL 815

Qualitative Research Methods in Rhetoric and Linguistics

3 cr.

or

another approved research course, such as EDSP 817 Applied Educational Research Methods